Page 111 of Goldsin

“You look just like her.” He skims his nose over the side of my face, sniffing in my perfume.

I think I’m dying.

Slowly. Painfully.

Lucian brushes his finger from a strand of hair, down my cheek, leaving a trail of burning skin in his wake. “Red like a child’s favorite crayon. Red like the flowers butterflies pick. Red like sacrifice and passion.” He grips my chin and tilts my head up, forcing me to stare into his eyes behind the mask. “Red like blood. Red like fire. Red like war. Red likemistakes.”

I flinch as his breath tickles my face. His eyes bore into mine, making my skin crawl with the intensity.

“Your mother was so beautiful. On a day just like this, I captured her for myself.” He hums to himself. “So docile andneedy.” He laughs.

I stare at him with a straight face, but a tear rolls down from the corner of my eye, betraying me. Another one follows, hot against my pale skin.

“So full of life. A little bird just learning to fly after a life spent behind bars.” The bastard smiles.

He smiles.

“She was finally free, but she flew to me, and I had to cage her in. I couldn’t let her go. I couldn’t lose all the light she brought with her.”

So you sucked it all out of her.

“She was mine. My personal escape in the middle of the night. She was happy to be mine.” Then his tone shifts, and he slams me against the floor, hard enough that the hatred in his next words sinks in better. “But you started to intoxicate her, poisoning her againstme,” he snarls, anger growing with each word he spits at me. “You took away my gift!”

He shakes me again, this time knocking my head hard on the tile, and I see stars. My lips part, but I don’t have the energy to moan in pain.

“You took her away from me.” His panting caresses my cheek. Growling, he whispers, “So I’ll use you in her place.”

Lucian leans down and bites the ribbon around my neck, sinking his teeth into my skin. Pain shoots through my body, and I scream, waking up from the daze he put me in with his words. It’s like everything washes over me and I finally feel.

Everything.

Swinging my legs up, I use my newfound determination and the years of training Valentine drilled into me to deliver a harsh kick to his hip, pushing him off me even if it means tearing my skin open.

Lucian stumbles backward, glancing down at me with my blood tainting his lips, and I use the opportunity to hook my hands around his face, shoving my thumbs into his eyes, allowing for his screams to tickle my soul. I dig my nails a little harder into his skin, deciding to match his blood with mine.

“I should rip your eyes out right now.” I push my thumb in, and he shouts in agony. “But I want you to see me when I finally take down everything you care about.”

He seizes my wrists, but the more he pulls, the more I fucking push.

“You pathetic, useless girl,” he gasps. “I don’t have anything I care about.”

“You’re wrong.”

In his show of dominance he’s revealed his Achilles’ heel.

Me.

“I’m all you have left of her.” I let out a giggle that turns into a hysterical laugh. “I’ll take her away from you again.”

My laughter dies as the unease that persists in me comes back and I remember he’s the reason my mom isn’t here with me now. My mouth turns down in anger, and I clench my jaw.

Nose wrinkling in disgust, I throw a punch to his neck, stealing the air away from him. He falls onto his back, choking from the pain as his hands try to get some air back into his lungs.

Standing on wobbly legs, I run for my life.

I run and run and run.

An ache spreads from my legs up to my torso as if I’ve been running for hours, but I haven’t moved much. The kitchen isn’t in my peripheral vision anymore, but Lucian could catch up to me at any moment.

---